


Early Train

by Leaves_Crown



Category: Free!
Genre: Established Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, Love, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-01
Updated: 2018-10-01
Packaged: 2019-07-23 10:50:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,505
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16157510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leaves_Crown/pseuds/Leaves_Crown
Summary: Things are going well at Natsuya's high school and Nao has become his boyfriend. Life is great, it seems.Then, Nao gets harassed on the train and Natsuya will have to take care of him.





	Early Train

“Good morning, Natsuya.”

“Hey,” Natsuya said. He pressed his phone closer against his ear, as if that made Nao closer too.

“Is there a reason you called?” Nao asked.

Natsuya grabbed his shoes with his free hand. “Nah, just wanted to hear your voice.”

“We’ll see each other in half an hour,” Nao pointed out.

“That’s too long,” Natsuya replied. “I miss you.”

“You’re so spoiled,” Nao tried to sound disapproving, but Natsuya could hear the laugh in his voice.

“Didn’t you miss me?”

“No. I just saw you.”

“Huh?” Natsuya dropped his shoes again.

“I dreamt about you,” Nao said softly.

“Ha! Must have been a good dream.”

There was a pause. “Perhaps.”

Natsuya switched the phone to his left ear. “Tell me.”

“I have to go. Don’t want to miss my train.”

“Aw, come on. Tell me about your dream!”

“No time. Bye, Natsuya.”

Nao hung up before he could say anything else. Taking the little stool in the hallway, Natsuya sat down on it. Shoes forgotten for the moment, he closed his eyes and held the phone against his chest. He was so happy he had confessed to Nao last month. Now they were together. He could kiss him, hold him even closer than before. Just this weekend, they had made out on Nao’s bed, and Natsuya had let his hand slide under the back of Nao’s shirt. It had still been quite innocent, but enticing at the same time.

And now Nao had dreamt about him. He really needed to know what that dream had been about.

His shoes came back in focus, and he put them on in a hurry. With a last shout of goodbye at his parents, he ran to school.

The high school was bigger than the junior high school they had gone to, but there were still a lot of familiar faces. Natsuya had felt at ease quite quickly. He waved at a few classmates. Perhaps he should spent more time with them soon, but since he and Nao had gotten together, everybody else seemed like a blur in the background.

He checked his watch. Nao should be arriving soon. Of course they wouldn’t be able to kiss at the school, but he wanted to at least touch his shoulder or even squeeze his hand before the day started.

The minutes passed by, and the students moves towards the hallways. Lessons were about to start. He spotted tall Yukimura Aika and headed over.

“Did you see Nao?”

“Not yet.” She paused. “He usually gets to the station before me, but not today.”

“Thanks,” Natsuya said. Maybe his call had made Nao late. If so, Nao would tell him off. Natsuya grinned. He secretly enjoyed it when he did that.

The bell rang and he was really supposed to go to his class now. With a look at the entrance, he reluctantly began to walk in the right direction. Just as he was about to turn the corner, Natsuya looked once more and saw him.

Something was off. Nao usually looked into the world with gentle eyes and an easy stride. Now, he shuffled in, almost as if he was ashamed to be there. Natsuya noticed his distress even from this distance. Concerned, he began to make his way back, right against the stream of students going to their lessons. The football club captain gave him a nasty look as he pushed through, but he didn’t care. He had to get to Nao.

When he reached his boyfriend, Natsuya looked him over. There were no injuries, but something was clearly wrong. Nao briefly met his eyes and then looked down again.

“What is it?” Natsuya asked. “Did you get bad news?”

“I’m fine…I…”

Natsuya put his hand on Nao’s shoulder. To his shock, Nao flinched. This had never happened before. They had so often touched each other, even before they admitted their feelings.

“Nao, did something happen? Was there an accident?”

“I’m sorry. You should go to class. I shouldn’t keep you here.”

“To hell with that. I want to know what happened.”

“But…”

“Let’s go,” Natsuya said. “You are in no state to attend class.”

“Where are we going?” That Nao didn’t insist on going to class told Natsuya that he was right to be concerned.

“The park. Let’s go.”

They walked off. Natsuya was careful not to touch him as he usually did. He didn’t like it at all that he had suddenly reacted so warily. Only forty minutes ago they had been joking around on the phone, so something must have happened on his way here.

Natsuya headed towards the small pond that had coloured fish swimming inside it. Usually, they sat on the bench in front of it, but it was occupied by an old man. Nao nodded in the direction of the grass. “Let’s sit there.”

They sat down, far enough away from the path to not be overheard.

“So…” Natsuya started.

Nao looked at his hands.

“Please….I’m worried sick, Nao.”

That made Nao look at him finally. “I apologize.”

“It's fine. Just tell me.”

Nao took a deep breath. “I ran as I was afraid to be late, but I actually got into an earlier train than normal because I rushed so much.”

“Oh?”

“It was much more crowded, and I got pressed into a corner. There was a man next to me…He wore a suit, but he stank of alcohol.”

As he began to understand where this was going, Natsuya’s blood started boiling.

“First I thought I was imagining it…but he was rubbing himself against me.” Nao looked at the pond. “I tried to move away, but I was stuck. It got worse at the next stop, when a large group came in and pressed me even closer against him.”

“Nao…” Natsuya let out.

“He began to touch me. His hand went…I told him to stop.”

“Did he?” Natsuya growled.

Nao shook his head. “I tried to push him away, but there was no space. And he was stronger than me.”

Natsuya was so angry that he couldn’t speak. He imagined his Nao being assaulted by that piece of scum. How scared he must have felt and helpless.

“I went off at an earlier stop. He tried to hold me back, but I just pushed myself out. I walked the rest of the way to school.”

Clenching his fists, Natsuya met his gaze. “Where is this fucker now?”

“I don’t know.” 

“I’m gonna kill him!” Natsuya burst out.

Alarmed, Nao put his hand on his knee. “Natsuya.”

“That he would do that to you…you of all people! He deserves to get his skull smashed in!”

Nao looked down, his fingers trembled a little. Seeing him like that made Natsuya calm down. Him shouting was not what Nao needed right now.

“Is it okay if I put my arm around you?”

“Arm...? Yes of course.”

Natsuya put his arm around Nao’s shoulder. “Sorry for getting angry.”

“That’s okay…thank you for being so worried about me.”

Pulling Nao closer, Natsuya hugged him.

“I feel so stupid,” Nao whispered. “I should have defended myself better and reported him. It’s my fault if he does it to someone else.”

“It’s not your fault, you hear me? That guy is trash. Hopefully, his drunk ass fell off the stairs when he got to his station. Maybe he even fell into a sewer. I hope it's true there are crocodiles in there.”

"Perhaps not," Nao said, but he sounded amused and that reassured Natsuya a little.

"They can flush him into the ocean then, the sharks will finish him."

Nao did not respond for a while, Natsuya let his fingers glide through his light hair. He hated that someone had touched Nao like that, had made him feel this vulnerable and unhappy. For a while, they sat there like that; Natsuya caressing him and Nao softly breathing against his chest.

“I feel a little better now,” Nao whispered.

“I’ll bring you home tonight and will pick you up tomorrow morning.”

“You live way too far for that!” 

Natsuya shrugged. “I don’t care. I’ll set my alarm clock early.”

“If you don’t mind, would you like to stay over instead?” Nao asked.

“Sounds good.” Actually, that sounded more than good to Natsuya. It would also give him the opportunity to make sure Nao was okay and he always liked to spend time with him anyway. He was even willing to play one of Nao's board games if that made him happy. 

“Shall we go back to school?” Nao asked.

Natsuya lay down on the grass. “I’d rather stay here with you.”

“We’ll get in trouble,” Nao said, but there was a ghost of a smile.

“I’ll get in trouble. I’m sure they’ll let _you_ in without comment.”

Nao’s smile grew. “They’d like you more if you handed in your homework in time.”

Relieved that he had regained some of his normal self, Natsuya sat up again. “Let’s go back then.”

**Author's Note:**

> I might write a sequel, but I will leave it like this for now.


End file.
